China’s military will conduct its first “digital” combat exercise next month, state media said, amid fears of the growing threat of Chinese cyber attacks.
The People’s Liberation Army will focus on new types of combat forces, including units using digital technology, special operations forces, army aviation and electronic counter forces, at a time of changing modes of war, the official Xinhua news agency reports.
The exercise will be carried out in late June in northern China’s remote Inner Mongolia region, Xinhua added.
This comes ahead of a meeting between US President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in California next week where cyber security is expected to take center stage, according to Reuters.
Washington has become increasingly worried about cyber espionage after a Pentagon report accused a Chinese military unit in Shanghai of hacking US military networks to modernize its own military.
The Chinese government has repeatedly denied any involvement in cyber attacks and claimed its own systems were also targeted by hackers from the US.